Tiangong-1: Chinese space station will crash to Earth within months (opens in new tab)

(theguardian.com)

63 pointsyitosda8y ago22 comments

22 comments

12 comments · 3 top-level

jpatokal8y ago· 4 in thread

Missing context: this is working as intended. Tiangong-1 was China's first space station demonstrator ("target vehicle", in official parlance) and barely larger than the Shenzhou spacecraft used to fly there, itself essentially a modernized copy of the 1960s-vintage Soviet Soyuz craft. It has already been succeeded by Tiangong-2 "space laboratory", which is also at end of life (operational but no further missions planned), and will be succeeded around 2019 by China's first "real" space station, which will be modular and designed for lengthy stays in space.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiangong-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiangong-2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_large_modular_space_st...

bjourne8y ago

If it crashes to earth, wont it release large amount of debris in the atmosphere?

FooBarWidget8y ago

90% of the debris burns up in the atmosphere. The remaining 10% -- who knows where they end up, but it is said that it's unlikely that the debris hit anything important.

This isn't the first time something like this happened. When NASA's SkyLab fell to earth in 1979, an Australian town fined them $400 -- for littering. https://science.slashdot.org/story/09/07/14/1556228/nasas-sk...

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FussyZeus8y ago

We crash satellites and spacecraft all the time. Most burns up during re-entry, the rest...well that's why they aim for oceans usually.

1 more reply

kabdib8y ago

Every day, an estimated hundred tons of debris (mostly meteoric dust) hits the earth's atmosphere. A satellite is not a big deal; it burns up, possibly with small chunks hitting the surface.

Even if you were directly on the ground track for this thing, you wouldn't notice anything aside from the reentry fireball.

yitosdaOP8y ago· 3 in thread

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12079880

ChuckMcM8y ago

Then it was only suspected, now it is headed in. One good solar flare to poof up the atmosphere and down it will come.

I guess the Chinese figured you always burn up your first space station. (Skylab, Mir)

extide8y ago

FWIW, Mir was definitely not Russia's first station, and not even the first one to re-enter uncontrolled.

1 more reply

throwanem8y ago

"Build one to throw away. You will, anyway."

lolc8y ago· 2 in thread

I want a piece of that.

KGIII8y ago

Theoretically possible, highly technical. Also, really expensive and it might make some people mad.

Are there actual space junk claiming rules, like that of sea wrecks? I could see someone just going up and stealing/taking a classified satellite before it de-orbited.

GuiA8y ago

There’s a great premise for a sci-fi novel - an earth where machinery falls from the sky on a perpetual basis, due to it being more advantageous to send new objects rather than repair/upgrade the existing ones. Groups of scavengers track these impacts to salvage pieces and build their own machinery.

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22 comments

12 comments · 3 top-level

jpatokal8y ago· 4 in thread

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiangong-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiangong-2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_large_modular_space_st...

bjourne8y ago

If it crashes to earth, wont it release large amount of debris in the atmosphere?

FooBarWidget8y ago

90% of the debris burns up in the atmosphere. The remaining 10% -- who knows where they end up, but it is said that it's unlikely that the debris hit anything important.

1 more reply

FussyZeus8y ago

We crash satellites and spacecraft all the time. Most burns up during re-entry, the rest...well that's why they aim for oceans usually.

1 more reply

kabdib8y ago

Every day, an estimated hundred tons of debris (mostly meteoric dust) hits the earth's atmosphere. A satellite is not a big deal; it burns up, possibly with small chunks hitting the surface.

Even if you were directly on the ground track for this thing, you wouldn't notice anything aside from the reentry fireball.

yitosdaOP8y ago· 3 in thread

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12079880

ChuckMcM8y ago

Then it was only suspected, now it is headed in. One good solar flare to poof up the atmosphere and down it will come.

I guess the Chinese figured you always burn up your first space station. (Skylab, Mir)

extide8y ago

FWIW, Mir was definitely not Russia's first station, and not even the first one to re-enter uncontrolled.

1 more reply

throwanem8y ago

"Build one to throw away. You will, anyway."

lolc8y ago· 2 in thread

I want a piece of that.

KGIII8y ago

Theoretically possible, highly technical. Also, really expensive and it might make some people mad.

Are there actual space junk claiming rules, like that of sea wrecks? I could see someone just going up and stealing/taking a classified satellite before it de-orbited.

GuiA8y ago

6 more replies

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